Home Education with an EHCP or SEN: Support, Plans and Your Rights

Home education with an EHCP or special educational needs is legal in every part of the UK, and the parent's right to home educate applies equally to a child with SEN. What changes is the position on support. In England, a council that maintains an education, health and care plan is relieved of its duty to arrange the provision in the plan if the parent's own arrangements are suitable, and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own rules. Below are the position in England in detail, the differences in the other nations, deregistering from a special school, exams and access arrangements, and how families plan support at home.

The right to home educate a child with SEN

The Department for Education's guidance for parents in England says the right to educate a child at home applies equally where the child has special educational needs, whether or not the child has an EHC plan. It also says the council has no right of entry to the home to check the education just because the child has SEN. The education must still be suitable, which in England and Wales includes being suitable to any special educational or additional learning needs the child has.

EHC plans and home education in England

When a child has an EHC plan, the council's duty to make sure the special educational provision in the plan is made available applies only if the parents have not arranged a suitable education in another way. According to the DfE guidance, this works as follows:

• If the home education is suitable, the council has no duty to arrange the special educational provision. The plan should still set out the provision the council thinks the child needs, and state that the parents have made their own arrangements under section 7 of the Education Act 1996.
• The plan stays in place and continues to be reviewed, and the council continues to check that the home education is suitable.
• If the home education stops being suitable, the council must make sure the provision in the plan is made available, and it can take the school attendance steps described in the guidance.
• Provision at home arranged by the council. Where parents feel their child should be educated at home but cannot provide it themselves, and the council agrees school would be inappropriate, the council can arrange provision elsewhere, including in the home by someone other than the parents, under section 61 of the Children and Families Act 2014.

The guidance adds that councils should not assume home provision is unsuitable because it differs from what a school would provide.

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Deregistering from a special school

For most children, deregistration in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is a matter of written notice to the school. The exception in England and Wales is a child placed at a special school under arrangements made by the council, where the council's consent is needed before the child's name can be removed. In England, if the council refuses, the parent can ask the Secretary of State to settle the dispute, and in Wales the Welsh Ministers can direct removal. Northern Ireland's Education Authority guidelines say the process is the same for every child, including those at special schools. In Scotland, consent to withdraw from a council school is needed in any case.

The nation guides cover each system in more detail: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Asking for an assessment while home educating

A parent who is already home educating and comes to believe the child has special educational needs can ask for an assessment. In England, the council must consider a request for an EHC needs assessment within the same statutory timescales as any other request, and in Northern Ireland the Education Authority considers a request for a statutory assessment in the same way as for any child. In Wales, the council's duty to decide whether a child it is responsible for has ALN applies to home-educated children too. The EHCP guide explains the assessment process in England, and the educational psychologist assessment page covers private and council assessments.

Exams and access arrangements

Children with SEN who sit exams as private candidates can have access arrangements, such as extra time, a reader or rest breaks, but only through the exam centre. The centre's own assessor must carry out any assessment, a privately commissioned report cannot be used on its own, and needs should be raised when first applying to the centre. Where a centre must make a reasonable adjustment for a disabled candidate, it cannot charge an extra fee for it. The exam centres for private candidates page covers this in detail.

Before deciding

Since much SEN support is delivered through school, the decision deserves careful planning:

• List the support the child receives now, including therapies, specialist teaching and equipment, and find out which of it continues after deregistration.
• Talk to the council's SEN team and any professionals involved before deregistering, as the Northern Ireland guidelines recommend.
• Check whether the school's difficulties can be resolved, since the Scottish guidance says home education should not be a solution to unmet needs at school, and all four nations have routes for raising concerns about support.
• Plan specialist teaching, such as a tutor experienced in the child's needs, and the pace and structure that suit the child.

The pros and cons of home education page sets out the wider balance, and the deregistration guide explains how to leave school.

Related guides

• Home schooling in the UK: the law, deregistration and how to start
• How to get an EHCP
• Educational psychologist assessment
• Elective home education and the local authority
• Exam centres for private candidates
• Pros and cons of home education

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Read more about our home education tutors and SEN tutoring, or send an enquiry and we reply with tutor recommendations.